Japanese Dog Tag Identification

[byBen]

Hello,
Im really starting to like the japanese dog tags, im sure some of you in this forum have seen these 2 japanese tags before... But i still would like to get some Info on them both to help me choose if i should Pick them, only one or none of them up.


Thanks already, Best regards.
- Ben

[Nick Komiya]

Avoid them all, as they are not IJA dog tags. The first 2 in brass may have originally been blanks for tags for officers, but they obviously were repurposed postwar. You cannot take comical stampings like "THUD!! 4-3774" seriously. I said officer blanks, because EM/NCO blanks already came stamped with the default character for number, missing on these.

[byBen]

Thank you Nick, ok im Not going to touch them... Its only 2 tags from both front and back, just thought the left holed one could have been stitched to something... And i surely assumed both were actual dog tags.
- Ben

[Nick Komiya]

You basically need to have 3 vertical lines of stamping for the tag to function as a military ID tag.

In prewar tags, the information contained in the three lines were as follows (from right to left)
1. Regiment
2. Company
3. Personal number (The character 番 ie Nr. is pre-stamped there)

In WW2 tags
1. Final unit of assignment (This line got stamped last)
2. Inland unit where the individual went through boot camp
3. Personal number (The character 番 ie Nr. is pre-stamped there)

Both tags you showed have only 2 lines, and in the first tag, if you do regard the 3774 as the unit ID (16th Field AAA is indeed 3774 in code) then there is no personal number, which means the tag cannot identify who was KIA, defeating the purpose of a dog tag. Also both tags lack the pre-stamped 番

Also beware of tags that have numbers, etc punched in with a screw driver as in the second example. Each unit had stamping dies.

[byBen]

I saw you once explain the ryakafugo type stamping that Looks pretty similar to the right tag so i thought thats the unit "number 4" and his Individual soldier number is "3774"... That was My thought atleast... Both tags have the Nr. Character 番 so i thought this is the soldiers number... But since i cant read the other stuff exept the numbers... Have you any idea what it could have been???? Im getting from your asessment that its no fake rather just something else and not a dog tag.
Thanks again, you know your stuff
- Ben

[Nick Komiya]

They could be for anything like locker keys. The "Thud" one could have held a key to a Pachinko machine featuring Sumo wrestling, number 4 of that series serial number 3774, for instance.

Anyway, the rule of thumb is 3 lines not 2.

[Nick Komiya]

By the way, your recent purchase of a tag for a tank regiment 100% done by screwdriver, as posted on another forum, is a fake, done by a non-Japanese, not familiar with the correct stroke order for 撃 nor ア. You should get your money back if still possible.

Please bear in mind that even at the end of the war, they could not afford such stupidity as stamping in a single character like 撃 with more than 15 strikes with a screwdriver when one strike with the regulation stamp die would have done a much neater job. Spending 20 or 30 times more time in preparing a single tag with a screwdriver was simply not done, only fakers can afford such luxury.

In Japan, blanks like shown below can be bought in any quantity for $4 a piece (tax included) and they'll laser-etch any wording you want for $8 to $13, so rather go laser than get screwed with a driver.

[ghp95134]

…..get screwed with a driver.

（＾Ｏ＾）


Great pun!

— Guy

[byBen]

They came from a large group of tags with many non selfmade ones (see picture it’s the green encircled one), it also has heavy „Cordburn“ on the back… I know the guy that sells the collection of a Japanese tag collector… I bought it combined with a beautiful Early SS-VT Dog Tag (i posted pictures on the German forum before you can see it).

Im not going to pretend I know a lot about Japanese militaria I’m just an ID tag collector and not as smart as you guys in that field… let me know after you evaluate the pictures… the 27th tank regiment was destroyed on Okinawa late war maybe a replacement tag… my guy I bought that tag from also sold tags authentificated by Dave Davenport curator of the Okinawa museum which were also made by screwdriver… probably replacements as far as I know Aluminium tags did not exist officially too???? Are they all fake then???? I think not… probably just fieldmade replacements like my tank tag.

He tries to get from the widow aswell a Japanese para tag and a Kempeitai tag for me… (I include pictures for you evaluation I’m 100% they are real if not you can let me know, if I’m wrong) those were agreed to me by the original collector… but he unexpectedly got corona and died, yikes… I post a bunch of pictures of everything.

Nick, thanks for trying to advise me though I really appreciate you seeing my post on WAF and coming over just to tell me… I do think you hold a lot of authority since I read your article on Japanese tags completely. But let me know your thoughts…

[byBen]

Here are pictures from the Para tag and the Kempeitai tag… let me know about that too. I know I’m probably going a little hard for these super Japanese tags but I do really like them, lol.
- Ben